ATTACK OF THE MUTANT CAMELS (1984) [Llamasoft] Cassette Designer: Jeff Minter Cover Design: Steinar Lund (Text from Rear of Cassette label): Planet earth needs you.... Hostile aliens have used genetic engineering to mutate camels from normally harmless beasts into 90 foot high, neutronium shielded, laser-spitting death camels!! Can you fly your tiny manoeuverable fighter over the mountainous landscape to weaken and destroy the camels before they invade the human stronghold. You must withstand withering laser fire and alien rockets. Game action stretches over 10 screen lengths and features superb scrolling, scanner, 1/2 player options and multi-stage animation. Awesome m/c action!

REVIEW by Phoenix Otaku

The evil alien race, the Zzyaxian's, have abducted docile camels from Egypt and the middle-east and mutated them into 90 foot laser spitting creatures of destruction.

The game looks and plays almost as absurdly as it sounds, and leads me to believe that the creators were as high as the spacecraft in the sky!

You as the player, fly around the "landscape", shooting the camels whilst dodging their "lasers". You must defeat them all before they reach the end of the landscape, and thus wreaking evil camel hell on the humans, if you can imagine that. Also, as I played the game, I couldn't help hoping that if I flew low enough, I could attach a rope to the beast and fly around its legs, tangling them and making them topple over...

The main game settings are however, quite versatile. There are 6 difficulty levels - "Real Cool; Fer Sure; Getting' Heavy; Far Out, Man; Intense; and Like Wow!!!!". The names themselves speak volumes, I think. Also, you can change the power of the blaster, from 1 to 8, making it easier or harder to destroy each camel. Multiplayer mode is simply taking it in turns the play the game. Whenever one player dies, play switches to the next.

The controls themselves are a pain. The more you fly one direction the faster you go, but you don't stop or slow down, you have to fly the opposite direction, which makes it incredibly difficult to attack a camel without overshooting them. At best, you can get one shot in before pulling up or crashing into the camel (or rather, bouncing off it unspectacularly). If you're lucky, you can make your ship stop and get a few more shots in.

Music is absent, and sound is basic, although the sound of the camels stomping does add a little suspense.

I can't comment on replayability. I didn't want to play it longer than 5 minutes, as it was. But other than attempting the game on different difficulty and blaster power, I can't see much replayability in it.

"Camels on Crack" (2/10)

GAME TIPS

The best advice is to keep moving to avoid the camel's laser spit, but try to slow down in order to get as many shots as possible into your target. Always aim to destroy the camel nearest to your base (far right on the overhead map), as the game will be over as soon as one reaches it.

Alternate Covers:

Mastertronic (1987) Cassette (Text from Rear of Cassette label): Hostile aliens have used genetic engineering to mutate camels from normally harmless beasts into 90 feet high, neutronium shielded, laser-spitting death camels! The only way to prevent the camels from invading the human stronghold is to pump them full of neutron cannon bolts fired from your fighter plane, whilst at the same time avoiding the laser fire and rocket attacks aimed at you! JOYSTICK ONLY PROGRAM BY JEFF MINTER

Other Versions:

The Llamasoft Archive
(Scans of old reviews, box art, plus various downloads and Llamasoft related links)
www.llamasoftarchive.org

The History of Llamasoft
(A history of Jeff Minter and the creation of Llamasoft)
www.wayoftherodent.com/guests/bob_yakhistory.htm

Arab.net
(A to Z of Camels)
www.arab.net/camels